(B)ordering South of Lebanon: Hizbullah's Identity Building Strategy

Daniel Meier

Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2015, vol. 30, issue 1, 97-109

Abstract: This paper examines the importance of the Lebanese southern borderland area in the political strategy of Hizbullah's identity building. It highlights how Hizbullah succeeded in its quest to become a major political player in Lebanon by using South Lebanon. The main hypothesis is that this borderland area has been ordered and bordered by Hizbullah to create a common identity among the Lebanese Shi'i population based on a Shi'i religious involvement and the "duty" of armed resistance against Israel. To support this idea, I will rely on a theoretical framework articulating space and identity building and will refer to concepts provided by Middle Eastern studies. In the first part of the paper, I will discuss the conditions of the emergence of the group of solidarity and how it articulates to the religious Shi'i ideology. Then, I will highlight the "lebanonization" process Hizbullah undertook at the end of the civil war and how during the 1990s it transformed the South into a sanctuary. Finally, I will show how Hizbullah enforced the national legitimacy of its social, political and military actions before targeting the state apparatus.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2015.1012735

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